No appetite for Labour/ SNP coalition - Ed Balls
He made the remarks during a visit to Edinburgh today, when he repeatedly failed to rule out the prospect of a pact between Labour and the SNP to keep the Conservatives out of power in the event of a hung parliament on 7 May.
However, Mr Balls admitted that any arrangement that saw Labour forced to rely on SNP support in Commons votes was not what the party wanted and not “part of our plan”.
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Hide AdThe Shadow Chancellor said the idea of formal pacts between parties had been discredited by the experience of the Conservative-Lib Dem government of the last five years.
He said: “Back in 2010 the idea of a coalition was quite popular and Nick Clegg and Vince Cable were quite popular.
“David Cameron did a popular thing, but the idea of a coalition now at Westminster is pretty unpopular.
“There’s no enthusiasm for this kind of discussion with the SNP or Liberal Democrats.”